Edit: Read laser instead of Taser /doh.

Ion Pulse is what you mean by Taser?

Shield Specialist is the least dependant on Ion Pulse (though at first it's the only skill to trigger the 5% damage reduction) but you still use it (on single targets especially.)

Edit: Read laser instead of Taser /doh.

 

Ion Pulse is what you mean by Taser?

 

Shield Specialist is the least dependant on Ion Pulse (though at first it's the only skill to trigger the 5% damage reduction) but you still use it (on single targets especially.)

yes, ion pulse and pulse cannon, those things that make me think im throwing sith or force lightning, or some kind of ranged taser

shield spec? going through it myself seems pretty weak, can someone link me to a guide on how it synergizes and all

so i can understand how it works?

yes, ion pulse and pulse cannon, those things that make me think im throwing sith or force lightning, or some kind of ranged taser

 

shield spec? going through it myself seems pretty weak, can someone link me to a guide on how it synergizes and all

so i can understand how it works?

It is not weak it is the tanking spec. If you not familiar with the term Tank means the role in which goes into the fights and makes the enemies concentrate on him while the damage dealers kill them. The vanguard is actually a very viable tank and going shield will very much be useful.

Not really, sadly. I love the Vanguards armour and I love the blaster rifles. The only problem for me is the Ion Pulse. I just hate the noise and animation it makes. If my Powertech could have a blaster rifle it would be perfect.

It is not weak it is the tanking spec. If you not familiar with the term Tank means the role in which goes into the fights and makes the enemies concentrate on him while the damage dealers kill them. The vanguard is actually a very viable tank and going shield will very much be useful.

I'm going to assume the OP was meaning that it's weak as in dealing damage. Most new low level players solo PvE which is decent tanking, but very slow kills. Even more so at low levels.

And if Pulse cannon is also a problem Shield Speciaist is horrible since you'll use it quite a bit.

As for some information on the specs in general and where they use the 'lightning' for:

Shield specialist: 5% damage debuff from Ion Pulse (later in an AoE applied by Explosive Surge) and Pulse Canon is as very big threat builder, which is what tank is all about. Shield specialist is as mentioned above a tanking spec and you won't do a lot of damage. It's very beloved in Flashpoints and Operations, but I'd only recommend it for leveling if your ultimate goal is tanking in end-game so you can get used to it.

While solo-leveling I'd highly recommend taking Aric Jorgan as companion for this spec due to a bit of compensation for the damage you lack.

Tatics: Here you use Ion Pulse relatively often to 'proc' other skills such as Stockstrike, High Impact Bolt and (sorry) Pulse Cannon. Currently one of the stronger DPS specs how-ever and thus one of the better levelings specs. Nothing beats a DPS in terms of speed while traveling with a companion.

Assault: Honestly... I know ****-all about it since the update but I remember having to use Ion Pulse quite a bit and I doubt this has changed. It's another DPS tree, but from what I've heard it's currently the weakest.

For both these specs I'd recommend taking your second companion, who's a healer, so you can DPS everything down quite fast while she keeps she topped up and sometimes even shoots at people.

If you really can't endure the lightning animations I fear Vanguard can become quite a problem, shame the animations ruin it for you so much.

actually i meant weak as in not having many abilities to spec into that would be useful, though prolly mostly cuz i dont want to use pulse cannon or ion pulse.

thanks, well looking at assault it looks like you can spec in a way that you can discard both attacks, unless even un-specced they're powerful enough to drop my dps if i dont use them, but im thinking something like this spec: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801hM0MZ0cZbIbrdRbffdz.3

with a rotation of something like:

assault plastique, incendiary round, full auto, sticky grenade, and high impact bolt all on 15sec CD with hammer shot and stockstrike threaded in 4 times(though a free bolt from stockstrike might mess me up a bit)

even if there is a noticable drop in dps, is the easier ammo management enough to make up for it in a prolonged engagement?

I share your dislike of some skills. Specialy on republic classes im seeing some "ugly" skill animations, the Bounty Hunter gets a cool flamethrower and the trooper gets, well, the shock thing that its called pulse cannon, other skill: the bounty hunter gets an single target flamethrower (flame burst) and the trooper gains a, well.. a taser gun!! Why not use "overload shot" (imp agent skill) animation instead? A blaster rifle that you only fire regular blaster fire between rotations... sad. I was searching for a trooper that could be agile, blow things, and kill stuff using regular gun shots, ended up by using imperial agent .

Another cool skills: bounty hunter has rocket punch (a cool horiuken stile skill) and retractable blade (wolverine/robocp style) and trooper? Get a stockstrike and a knife strike? I was looking for more cool stuff...

I know that many people may have diferent opnions, and many ppl may like the animations/fx of the skills, im just expressing my opnion that, for a blaster trooper it almost dont "blaste" things!